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Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Advancing Human Rights | GrantCraft: Advancing Human Rights: Knowledge Tools for Funders was borne out of these questions. The initiative is an ongoing effort to track the evolving state of global human rights funding and to create a set of dynamic, interactive data and research tools to help human rights funders and advocates increase their effectiveness. This work is led by the International Human Rights Funders Group and Foundation Center, in collaboration with Ariadne – European Funders for Social Change and Human Rights and the International Network of Women’s Funds.

The Dartmouth - Greek councils add incentives for philanthropy: The Inter-Fraternity Council, Coed Council and Panhellenic Council will incentivize members’ involvement with philanthropy, summer IFC executive board member for service Peter Gips ’16 said. Several of the new programs will be introduced this fall and spring, he said.

The IFC aims to make service an integral part of the Greek system and a component of Greek life potential members consider during the rush process, Gips said. Planned changes include standardizing the roles of service chairs across different houses, creating an annual Greek service competition and running a “million minutes” campaign, which would challenge the College’s Greek system to complete one million minutes of community service over the course of a year.

For instance, a 14-year-old client appeared after his father was murdered by gangs in Honduras. His mother was so traumatized from witnessing the murder that she is confined to a psychiatric hospital. Then the thugs tried to force the youngster to join their criminal enterprise and beat him up.

Letter To A CEO: The Surprising View In The Mirror: I sincerely applaud your decision to commit a greater part of yourself to a favorite charity. And by extension, committing your company, as well. But in your zeal to rush forward, you’re only glimpsing the reflection from one side of the mirror. Turn it around and what do you see?

Your employees.

Often just as passionate and dedicated as you are, eager to lend deeper purpose to their jobs and more meaning to their lives. Hungry for the opportunity to give back at work, alongside their fellow colleagues and you. Yes, you. Many of them want to know you better, and what better way than through improving the world together? They’d relish the chance to get involved in philanthropic work at work, participating in giving campaigns, pitching in at volunteering events, competing with each other at crowdfunding events for the grand prize.

This fall, Grand Valley State University is set to introduce its master of philanthropy and nonprofit leadership program. The program is a response to the need for more nonprofit leaders in the field, which currently employs 10 percent of Kent County’s workforce, according to GVSU.

Monday, July 21, 2014

Melodrama at the Met — The American Magazine: But something else is happening at the same time: the very philanthropy that has traditionally funded and enabled artistic innovation and expression is now being attacked, and also shifting from arts funding to medical research. Eric Gibson of the Wall Street Journal reports that more than half the members of New York’s City Council signed a letter to Wal-Mart demanding it stop donating to New York charities. He also reports business leaders such as Bill Gates increasingly criticize donors who chose to fund art over hospitals. The presumption seems to be that such art is an elitist luxury; frivolous and inherently purposeless.

ZIP Code data show selected income and tax items classified by State, ZIP Code, and size of adjusted gross income. Data are based on individual income tax returns filed with the IRS and are available for Tax Years 1998, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, and 2012. The data include items, such as:

Number of returns, which approximates the number of households
Number of personal exemptions, which approximates the population
Adjusted gross income
Wages and salaries
Dividends before exclusion
Interest received

Klein, admittedly, doesn’t go as far as Milton Friedman famously did, saying that the only responsibility of a business was to make a profit, or as Jamie Whyte implied even more stingingly in the Wall Street Journal, “Corporate philanthropy is theft.” However, Klein spares no punches when it comes to charities. He recommends they “can address the loss of 5% of their revenue by reducing costs, improving efficiency.” (Those who argue that charities should spend more on overheads will wince at that uppercut.) The five-percent figure quoted is the corporate contribution to nonprofit income.